Chick Update & Are you sure it's almost May?

The chicks are 9 days old today and growing like mad - they have all developed beautiful wing feathers and most are starting to get their tail feathers.  Their brooder box looked so huge their first few days here, but not anymore, they are quickly outgrowing it!  Hopefully the coop roof will be finished this weekend and the chicks can at least spend their days outside (with heat of course).  Considering that it's been SNOWING -AGAIN (you know I really love snow and winter, but it's nearly May - ugh!)  and nights are still quite cold I think we'll still need to keep them inside overnight until they're fully feathered or it warms up.  
They seem to enjoy "flight testing" their new wings.   

(Photos taken Monday 4/26 - so here they are 1 week old)

While the roost seems to be a flight runway for some, several chicks have it figured out and have started "roosting" when they nap.  
It's quite a precious site to see little chicks sleeping on the roost :-)

All the chicks are very friendly and enjoy being held - especially this one, she is clearly the "top hen" in our flock

In other livestock news, George purchased 5 guinea keets last Friday from a local farm - they were born Thursday 4/22/10.  Guineas are renowned for sounding an alarm when predators are nearby.  Because we plan to free range our chickens during the day, George hopes having Guineas will reduce the number of hens we loose to predators.  They are more of a wild game bird, so not quite as friendly as the chicks, when held they emit a very loud call, but 4 of the 5 will eat from our hands. 

They are enjoying their very own brooder box as they eat different food than our chicks and need to be kept about 5 degrees warmer.  I have found Guineas to be messy birds - they repeatedly use their head and feet to pull food out of the feeder onto the floor of the brooder - good thing once their outside Guineas are known for eating about 70% of their diet from foraging for bugs and such.  Guineas love ticks, ants, japanese beetles and are known to be fabulous weed eaters in vegetable and flower gardens - in fact there is even a book written about their weeding/bug eating talents -

Gardening with Guineas: A Step by Step Guide to Raising Guinea Fowl on a Small Scale

If they are good little helpers and protect my hens then I'll be one happy little homestead mama :-)  George is designing a separate coop just for them.  

The weather has been a bit - crummy - as I said, snowing again and cold (highs in the 30's).  Yesterday, Nikki despite the raw cold, rainy/sleety afternoon, refused to miss her riding lesson.  She rode in pouring rain with a smile on her face - can you tell she loves horses?  It's hard to tell in the photo but it was raining enough that soon her jacket was soaked!  It's a good thing her teacher loves horses as much as Nikki because I was sure they were both were soaked through after 30 minutes, but I was reminded that they had several layers on and were okay underneath the top layer -  wet and cold, but can you believe they were both still smiling?  They did eventually go in the barn and work on braiding, I think the horse was the happy about that!  Not long after the rain changed to snow...

-  Nikki would ride in any weather - it is the highlight of her week -    
I really think both of my kids have different internal thermostats than me - maybe it's all those years we spent living overseas in an arctic climate when they were little, they actually prefer cold temps to hot summer days, I guess I'm also a bit more like that since living there; that said, I do have a special affinity for wool & alpaca now, a.k.a."my cold weather friends." 
Did I mention it's Snowing Again? - Typical springtime NH mountain life - We're expecting several inches by this afternoon

Guess I should be thankful G didn't have time to take off my snow tires yet, looks like I might be needing them today.
Off to grab a wool sweater and wool socks, start the woodstove and get going with the tasks of the day, see you back here Friday :-)